[Cinci-nfb] Foundation Fighting Blindness

[Deborah Kendrick]

All, 
There has been some discussion regarding the Vision Walk, a fund raiser for
the Foundation Fighting Blindness, and whether or not our chapter should
participate in this event.  I'm moving this discussion to our new list to be
sure everyone is included, and hope I can clarify where I believe we should
be on the business of participating in the walk.  
First, a little overview.  FFB is a huge international organization that
does a great job of fundraising.  Their Vision Walks and Dining in the Dark
events are held in many cities and raise a ton of money.  They do so for the
sole purpose of "curing' blind people.  Their philosophy is completely
opposite that of the National Federation of the Blind.  They want to fix
blind people. They see blindness as a tragedy and are successful in raising
money by appealing to that mind set.  Our motto, on the other hand,  is
"Live the life you want."  We know blindness is not an obstacle to living a
full and equal life.  
We do not, as a national organization, form any kind of partnership with the
Foundation Fighting Blindness.   
Yes, we have participated in an information-sharing event with them at
CABVI.  That is an open forum, organized by them, for anyone with
information of use to blind and visually impaired people to come and
distribute literature.  We have done that for a few years now and we will
probably do it again.  
Information sharing is quite different from participation in a fundraiser.  
If you want to raise money to find a cure for blindness, then go walk in the
Vision Walk.  
We are not, as a chapter, going to vote on whether or not we will do
something which is in complete opposition to our national organization's
policies.  
More importantly, we have so much work of our own to do that we simply do
not have time to divert attention away from the NFB to an outside
organization.  
As we discussed at the July 28 chapter meeting, our state affiliate is
planning one of the most impressive fundraising and public events we have
ever attempted at this year's state convention.  If you missed the meeting
and the discussion, that event is a presentation mae by Art Schreiber, a
Federationist who, as a broadcast journalist, toured with the Beatles in
1964 and who has written a book about his experiences.  We plan to have a
silent auction with big ticket items, possibly musical entertainment, and of
course, Art Schreiber's thrilling presentation.  
An event of this srt will take a huge amount of work and all of us need to
participate.  As I indicated at our meeting last week, we need to think
about raising funds to get our own chapter members to this convention and we
need everyone to be thinking about attracting those large-ticket auction
items for the event.  
We need to focus on our own chapter, building membership andraising funds,
to do the work we know must be done.  
While I appreciate news of this other event being brought to all our
attention, I think we need to get back to business and focus on our own
work.  
Deborah

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